"Physical Fitness"

According to Erwan Le Corre, The first MovNat podcast will be available soon. Something he posted today on Facebook:

In today's fitness industry - because yes...it is an "industry" just like there is a car industry, food industry, etc,. - too many basic, universal, natural movements are completely overlooked. Completely. Movement as a whole is overlooked. Movement has become a tool for muscles..., while biologically muscles are mere tools for movement.

Back in the days...yes back, far back, a hundred, two hundreds, several hundreds of years ago, you know long long before Jane Fonda's "aerobic" and Arnold Schwarzenegger's body-building? "Fitness" did not exist. At least, our modern concept of fitness. But physical education did exist, and physical education was entirely based on preparing people's bodies and minds to demands of the real world. Practical physical competence and adaptability was at the core of their physical practice.

So you think they cared much about how "tone" their butts were? Or concerned about "core stabilization"? Or obsessed by the size and shape of their muscles? That's right, they didn't give a damn about those things. They did care about their ability to be strong in practical manners, i.e. physically competent in real world situations, where they could also be physically helpful and useful to themselves and others, to their community. 

The finality of it all, this whole modern fitness industry, has switched from the truly practical to the clearly superficial. What a mistake and what a loss! Most fitness "experts" think inside of the box, as indeed their approach is boxed, severely boxed within the limitations of conventional thinking. They can't help but compartmentalize all the time....compartmentalize body parts, muscles, joints, physiological adaptations. They compartmentalize....you. You are not a whole being, no. You are upper body vs lower body. You are "core strength" vs "cardio". Though such an approach may work quite well for specific applications, it is not what the overwhelming majority of people need. You people need move naturally. You people need move humanly, to move the way humans do, beyond social and cultural or even historical differences. To revert back to your universal origins, to the deepest, most ancient forms of movement. The same way the eagle moves like eagles do, the bear moves like bears do, the dolphin moves like dolphins do, humans need move like humans, universally or at least originally, do.

I am not afraid to say that, except a few rare exceptions, a lot of what I see in today's fitness industry looks like a farce to me. What has this industry created in the last few decades that is so brilliant and so effective? Thousands of different exercise machines? Yeah!!! Tons of fitness plastic props and gadgets? Yeah!!! Thousands of gimmicky "conditioning" drills mostly based on muscle or joint isolation, that are terribly boring to do, and that for the most part do not relate to evolutionary, biological movement needs or function nor translate - or very minimally - to real world needs? Yeah!!! Have you ever heard that "less is more"? Because it is. What has this modern fitness industry invented that is so clever, so useful, so indispensable or so enticing? "Fitness", from a contemporary standpoint, has become 3 things. First, a temporary chore, an ineffective quick-fix for being out of shape. Secondly it is the delusional expectation of getting the physical appearance of those Photoshopped models and celebs you see in every magazine. Last, it is an industry that thrives on people's ignorance, vanity or despair. An industry that makes money on somatoform disorders, on body dysmorphic syndrome.

But moving naturally, humanly is not a chore, it is a biological duty. Furthermore, there is more to building a body than building muscle, and there is much more to building a human being than building their body. Ultimately, what we do should liberate and empower us. Now go step in a modern gym and tell me if you think you will liberate and empower yourself in such an environment?

I'm telling you, exercising the body is a stupid idea. What!?!? Yes, a stupid idea. I never exercise my body. I exercise my whole person through movement. I "exercise" my freedom; and the primary form of freedom is the freedom of movement.

In movement I am strong. In movement I am beautiful. In movement I am happy and free. In movement I am a physical expression of my spirit and a spiritual expression of my body. And I wish you the same, because you can experience the same, you can be the same, in your whole entire way. It belongs to all of us. It is our universal birthright. It is one of the most precious gifts of life.
Exercise your freedom. Get moving!